Interview: Thomas Walmsley from Temples
Thomas right after our interview at Mascotte, shot with my old Canon.
I remember watching Temples play for the first time five years ago. It was at the little Komplex Klub in Zurich. They had just released their album Sun Structures and they blew me away. The crowd went wild as well. After that night I kept coming to their concerts whenever they came back to Switzerland, for example in Montreux or during Paleo Festival. These big stages were great, but when they announced a concert at Mascotte last November I got pretty excited – Mascotte is a smaller venue, so it was guaranteed that the energy in the room would be more intense. And indeed, we got rowdy.
I was even happier to hear that Thomas kindly agreed to have a little chat with me before the show. Join us as we talk about the band’s album Hot Motion, rehearsing in a little town called Kettering, our local Swiss legends Klaus Johann Grobe and Piet from Taxi Gauche, and more.
Many thanks to Temples and management for this great evening!
What is your life like these days? I guess you are not living in Kettering anymore right?
Thomas Walmsley: We all used to live in Kettering when we were growing up, but it’s been a long time since we’ve lived there. In fact, before the band had even started, we were already living in different places – so various spots around the UK. Our drummer is from the Netherlands, so he lives out there at the moment. We’re more of an international band than we used to be, but we still come back to Kettering to rehearse. In fact, maybe we rehearse more than we ever have because we don’t live as near each other, so it has completely worked in our favor!
Tonight you’re also going to DJ with Taxi Gauche at Kater bar after the show. How did you meet the founder of the label, Piet Alder?
I haven’t met him yet! I’ve known him from a friend of ours who plays in a band called Klaus Johann Grobe. One thing led to another, and I am just going to play some records afterwards, it should be fun!
Speaking of Klaus Johann Grobe, I interviewed them as well! They told me they used to tour with you guys.
They did, quite a few years ago now! We toured with them around England and Europe. That was fun. It’s great to see them go from strength to strength and have some great success, especially in the United States. For us, their sound has a very strong European grounding. So I can only imagine for an American, it’s something otherworldly!
Would you like to write a song with them?
Probably! I mean, we’ve never done something like that before but we love their influences. I don’t know if that would ever happen, but that would be fun! We can dream!
Temples at Mascotte, shot with my old Canon.
Let’s talk a bit about Hot Motion. Could you tell me more about the song You’re either on Something? It’s one of my favorites from the album, and I love all the little details like the little guitar arpeggios!
Traditionally, you keep adding to a recording. You layer up and it’s the individual layers together that create an atmosphere. But that song in particular is very driven by the drums and the bass. When it came to the guitars, we wanted something sparse and loose, and a bit more avant-garde with note choice. It’s a bit more angular. So if it helps create an atmosphere on that song that’s great!
I really liked the video as well. Your older videos were just as beautiful, but not as funny as this one!
The video is mainly James’ concept. We just wanted something that was narrative-based and told a story. The song tells a story over the course of an evening, so the video had to do the same. And rather it be serious, it is meant to be quite tongue-in-cheek and lighthearted. The song itself is tongue-in-cheek, so you needed a video worthy to match the sentiment!
Would you say you are more of a holy horse lighting the sky, or a wolf howling at the moon?
Personally, I would go for The Howl, but it’s not really a wolf in that song! It’s more of a panther, a very large cat! Instead of meowing, it just howls.
Oh no, I got it all wrong!
Traditionally a wolf would howl, so you’re right there. But I guess howl sounds a bit more impressive than meow! (laughs)
What can we expect from Temples in the future?
We’re currently trying to tour as many places as possible, and I presume that we’ll continue for the next year also. We’re going to try and record new music as well, as soon as we can – keeping creative as well as playing live, rather than focusing on one or the other.
